Lost Time
by zipadeea
Summary: Barry was in a coma for nine months. But he's fine, absolutely fine. Better than fine really. He has super-speed now, so that makes everything worth it, right? Slight WestAllen, with a special cameo.


_AN: I absolutely love new Flash TV show. I think it's great, and I think the characters are even better. Only problem I have looking back is that Barry hardly seemed phased by the fact that he missed nine months of his life when he was in a coma. So, this story was born. I know some dates and timing may be wrong, but just go with it. I know it's not all correct, but I made stuff up for the sake of the story. Oh, and cameo by my favorite super-hero sidekick! Hopefully they bring him into the show next season. Enjoy! Please read and review. _

Barry Allen adapted extraordinarily well to missing almost a year of his life. Sure he had to get used to the fact that he was 25 now, and explaining to the trooper why he hadn't renewed his driver's license after he got pulled over for speeding (ironic, he knew) had been kind of hard to explain, but it wasn't a big deal. Plus, he didn't even miss Christmas, which was always a bonus. Honestly, Barry felt worse for the people in his life his absence had upset, namely his dad, Joe and Iris. If Iris had been in a coma, Pfft, Barry didn't know how he could have possibly coped. And it had to have been hard for his dad, knowing but not being able to see Barry, to visit him or help at all.

Yeah, if someone had to be struck by lightning, Barry was glad it was him. He was fine, he seriously couldn't remember anything from that night at all, and, c'mon, super speed? It almost seemed worth the coma! Not that he could say that to anyone out loud.

The first shocks came his first day back at work. Though he was totally and completely fine (probably in better shape now than he had been when the lightning struck if he was honest with himself), Joe made Barry take another week off before returning to work.

"Just do it for me, Bar. I know you're okay, and I'm so, so happy that you are, but I could use some peace of mind. Please?" Barry couldn't say no to that.

It was as hard seeing Detective Chyre's memorial plaque again. It was too easy for Barry to forget that Fred had been shot and killed the same night of his accident. They hadn't necessarily been close, but he was Joe's partner, and Barry had always liked and respected the man. He came round to their house sometimes for dinner, and had a daughter just a couple years younger than Iris and Barry. He was sad about it, but knowing everyone else had nine months to get used to Detective Chyre's absence made it hard to grieve.

That first day, Barry found that Chyre wasn't the only regular in the precinct who wasn't around. In the morning, Captain Singh walked into Barry's lab with a huff, needing signatures for insurance forms and accident report documents.

"Sorry you have to do this your first day back, Allen. Joe filled out most of them for you, but we technically need your signature on these before we can put you back on payroll." Barry signed them, then watched as Singh added his own signature to the bottom before handing a new paper to Barry.

"Sign that one, too. She'll be happy to see it. I'm sure someone told her you're back, but you know how much Summers likes her proof." Singh said distractedly, reading over the insurance forms, probably to make sure HR didn't badger them both.

Barry stared and the paper in his hands, slightly confused. For it wasn't a form or document, but a Hallmark card, with "Congratulations" printed across the top and a stork flying on the page. Barry opened the card to find many signatures and kind notes from most of the precinct filling it already. The card was pink.

"Detective Summers had a baby?" Barry said, slightly shocked. Elaine Summers was as hard as the best of them, but everyone knew she had a soft spot for kids. She'd be a good mother.

Captain Singh gave him a patronizing look. "Yeah, Allen, she got moved to desk duty a few months ago, looked like she had a basketball under her shirt by the end. Had a baby girl named Emma yesterday afternoon….ringing any bells? Oh." Singh ended dumbly. "Shit, kid, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Barry reassured him. "Huh, wonder if she was pregnant when it happened, or if it was afterwards. I was out for almost exactly nine months…Weird." Barry signed the card and Singh hurried out of the lab, obviously a bit uncomfortable from the conversation. Suddenly, nine months didn't seem so short a time. Summers had gotten pregnant, grown a baby, and delivered her child all in the time while Barry slept his life away.

Barry leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. It was a beautiful fall afternoon, slightly warmer than normal for this time of the year, and the sun was shining brightly. Observing this, Barry almost automatically walked to the middle of his lab, reaching for the chain to his skylight to open the window.

It wasn't there. Barry looked up, shocked to see that the chains were gone, and his skylight had been completely blocked out.

"Hey Barry, how's the first day back so far?" Joe began cheerfully, walking into the lab with two coffees in his hand. Joe stopped, watching Barry stare at the ceiling. "Sorry, kiddo. I know you liked that window. They blocked it off right after your accident. I know lightning's not supposed to strike in the same place twice, but you got everybody rattled…" Joe trailed off, handing the extra coffee to Barry.

"I guess it makes sense." Barry finally replied. "Thanks for the coffee. And yeah, the day's been good. It's nice to have a routine again." Lie. In his brain, he'd only been off work for a week. He had a routine already. But no matter. Barry told Joe he was busy catching up on stuff, and Joe left him to his work. He shook his head and looked around critically, scrutinizing his lab.

His desk had been moved from underneath the window to the middle of the room. Someone had placed Barry's chemicals in alphabetical order instead of basing it on pH levels and periodicity. The shelves that normally stood next to his desk and whiteboard had been pushed back against the wall. Barry winced when he noticed that. Iris was the one who told Barry that the lightning had blasted him violently into the shelves. Nine months and his newly developed regeneration capabilities had fortunately been enough to heal his broken ribs, chemical burns, and angry cuts from the shelves and beakers that had fallen on his body after the lightning struck.

Barry understood the reason why his lab had been rearranged, he knew that people cared and wanted him to be safe, but he was fine. Barry was absolutely fine. Better than fine, really. He just wanted everything to be normal again.

After work, Barry walked into the house, alone. Iris had a late shift today, and Joe had a case report to finish before he could leave work. Though he'd hoped to return to his apartment by now, Joe had unfortunately told Barry that the lease on his beloved little flat had run out, and rather than pay for a space where no one was living, Joe and Iris had moved his things out and brought them home. Barry understood, and the decision made total sense, but he couldn't help but feel irrationally angry about the whole thing. Being asleep for nine months took some real potshots at a person's independence, Barry was finding.

So now, to Joe's not so secret delight, both of his children were back at home, Barry was (temporarily) sleeping in his childhood bedroom while he hunted for another apartment. A few seconds after he walked in the door, Barry heard the home phone ring. With a smile, Barry sped into the kitchen, arriving at the phone before the first ring ended. That was never not going to be cool.

"Hello, Wests. Barry speaking." Barry answered, the response automatic after all these years.

"BARRY! Hi, Barry! Ohmygoshohmygosh, Uncle Joe told us you were awake, and I've wanted to call all week, but Mom was like 'let him get acclimated, give him some time' blah blah blah, but I really wanted to talk to you, and now you're there and you picked up the phone and this is so cool!" The young voice responded, breathless by the end.

"Wally! Hey kiddo, it's really good to hear from you. I've missed you bud." Barry couldn't help but smile. Wally West was Joe's brother Rudy's son, and Iris' cousin, but Wally hadn't been born yet when Barry moved in with the Wests. From Wally's perspective, Barry was just as much family as anyone else.

"You too. I'm so glad you woke up Barry! I have so much to tell you!" and Barry listened while his hyperactive ten year old cousin filled him in on science fairs and soccer games, and the perils of sixth grade. Wally lived in Keystone, a few hours from Central City, and normally the families only got together a few times a year. The big event was always going to a cabin by the lake every summer for a week to have a reunion of sorts, which usually coincided with Wally's birthday. With a jolt, Barry realized that Wally wasn't ten, but eleven now. Barry had missed the reunion and Wally's birthday in July.

When Wally finally took a breath from his recount of the last nine months, Barry interrupted gently.

"Hey, kiddo, I'm sorry I missed your birthday. I'll get you an extra present at Christmas to make up, how's that sound?"

"Aww, Barry, you don't have to do that. It didn't really feel like my birthday this year anyway. Joe and Iris didn't come to the cabin. I don't think they wanted to be too far away in case something happened to you…" The kid sounded unnaturally solemn. "But it's okay, because you woke up! That's what I wished for on my birthday candles. I can tell you now because it came true!"

Barry had to swallow a lump in his throat. "Wow, Wally, that's ahh, wow. Thank you. That means a lot."

"I visited you when you were asleep at STAR labs, Mom and Dad took me. You probably don't remember. It was really sad, 'cause you weren't moving or anything, but that place is so cool! Dr. Wells was really nice. He showed me around the lab, and answered all my questions. He even gave me a science kit, and let me have a STAR labs sweatshirt!" Barry grinned again. Wally, like Barry, shared a love of science, and an admiration for Harrison Wells. Joe sometimes joked that Wally acted more related to Barry than he did to Iris.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool, kid. I like him a lot, and not just because he saved my life!"

"Oh yeah, I have sooo many questions about that! Do you remember being struck by lightning? What did it feel like! Did the lightning leave your body through your foot? Do you have a scar on that foot? I wanted to check when we visited, but mom wouldn't let me because she said it was rude. I did lots of research on people struck by lightning." Wally finished.

"Hmmm, I haven't actually checked." So Barry took his shoes off at the kitchen counter, inspecting the bottom of both feet. There on his right foot, was a star shaped scar on the arch.

"Yep, Wally, I have one. Right foot, kinda looks like a star. About an inch and a half wide."

"Awesome!" Wally whispered reverently, "It's like you have a souvenir from the lightning!" Barry laughed. That certainly wasn't the only souvenir the lightning had given him.

"Hey Barry, I gotta go. Mom says dinner's ready. Bye! I love you!"

"Bye, kiddo. Love you, too. I'll call soon, okay? And I wasn't lying about the birthday present, it'll be there." Wally giggled, then hung up. Talking to Wally had, as always, made Barry happy, but it also opened a floodgate to things he'd forgotten he'd missed.

Mother's day, Father's day, Iris' birthday, his birthday, his dad's birthday, Fourth of July, Wally's birthday, family vacation, and that was just off the top of his head. He'd really skipped a lot of his life, and it made him suddenly very sad. Joe brought pizza home for dinner, then Barry went up to bed right after.

"You feeling all right, Bar?" Joe asked, worried when Barry said he was already going to bed.

"Yeah, Joe, just a long day. I'm fine, really." Barry responded, before trudging up the steps. He set ten alarms on his phone for the next day, as he had for the past week. Barry refused to sleep any more than normal. He couldn't miss anything else.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Barry screamed, lurching up in his bed. He glanced frantically at the clock at his bedside to discover it was two in the morning.

"Barry! What's wrong?" Iris hurried in anxiously, eyes wide and hair wild from sleep. Barry would've laughed if he wasn't so terrified. "What happened? Bad dream?" Iris finally asked, reaching his bed. Simultaneously, Barry scooted over while Iris pulled back the blankets and sat in the bed. She grabbed his hand and he gripped back. It had become their ritual after Barry moved in those fifteen years ago. He'd had frequent nightmares that caused him to scream and thrash in his sleep, and Iris' room was right next to his. Joe slept like the dead, but Iris always woke up, and would come sit with him, sometimes waking him if he was still in the throes of a nightmare.

"I-, hmm, I think I remember now," Barry said in a choked voice. "The lightning, I mean." Iris let out a little gasp and squeezed his hand harder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked quietly. He shook his head. "Well, let's talk about something else then, that always helps. How was your day?"

"Fine. Pretty boring I guess. Wally called." Barry answered.

"Oh, good. He's been so upset over all of this, I'm sure talking to you made him really happy. He was so worried about you. We all were." Iris finished quietly.

"I'm sorry." Barry whispered, and Iris looked up at him sharply.

"For God sakes, Barry, you were struck by _lightning_. You couldn't help that! None of this is your fault, don't you dare be sorry. And you're awake now. That's all that really matters."

"No, I just, I missed a lot, Iris. Did you know Detective Summers had a baby?" Iris nodded. "I mean, she might not have even been pregnant when I got struck! And I missed your birthday and Dad's birthday, and you had to go to the cemetery alone on Mother's day, and now Wally's eleven and I'm _twenty-five_, and I know that's only a year more but it just sounds so old. I—nine months is much longer than I thought." Barry finished lamely. It wasn't until Iris pulled him into a hug that Barry started to cry.

"Hey, hey, Bar, it's okay. It's gonna be okay. Shhh, shhh, just let it out." And Iris held him while he let out all of his fear, his frustration, and his loss from the past nine months.

"I'm sorry." Barry choked out, raising his head from her shoulder after he started to calm down. "I'm being such a baby about all of this. I mean, I got so lucky, and I'm fine, I should be happy. It's just harder to deal with than I thought it would be."

"Nah, honestly I'm glad this happened." Barry looked up at Iris, confused. "Dad and I thought you were handling all of this scarily well. We were afraid the lightning might have made you emotionally constipated or something." Iris and Barry laughed together, Iris' turning into a yawn. She settled herself down on one of Barry's extra pillows, then looked up at him.

"Do you care if I stay here tonight?"

"No, of course not."

"Good. I wasn't going to move anyway." Iris curled up in a ball, facing Barry, their hands still laced together. "Night, Barry. Sweet Dreams." And maybe everything was still weird, and Barry Allen wasn't as well-adjusted to life as he previously thought, but in that moment, he really didn't care. Because Iris was there, just as she'd always been, and that was something that time would never change.


End file.
